January 4th marked 16 years since Geoff and Shannon Husa moved to Papua New Guinea to minister to the remote Mibu people! 16 years of God’s faithfulness in provision, direction, loving care, and growing His kingdom!
Sadly, a large contingent has rejected the Gospel message after hearing it recently through an outreach effort by the church in Mibu. Most of the places that have previously asked the Mibu church to bring the Gospel message to them have responded favourably to the message. However, they are praising the Lord for the small handful who have responded to the message about Jesus and are putting their faith in him. The challenge for the church in Mibu now will be supporting and continuing to encourage and grow those believers as they continue to live among the many who will likely ridicule and may even persecute them.
As for the ongoing work of translating the Bible and creating Bible lessons the last half of 2019 was really slow and frustrating for Geoff personally. It was difficult for him to stay focused and to get momentum going in the work. He found himself being faced once again with his own weakness and inability. Pray that the Lord will help Geoff to trust that He will provide all that is necessary to accomplish the task and for renewed focus and dependence on the Lord, and success (as God defines it) in this start of 2020!
As a family they are excited that they finally have plans to spend some time together in Mibu! March 10-19 is when it seems likely to happen. Geoff has been into Mibu a number of times, but the rest of the family has not. It should be a great time to reconnect with friends and leaders there and of course, to accomplish some translation tasks, which can only be done in Mibu. They are also hoping and praying that their house is not requiring any major attention which will take time away from more important things.
Their home assignment is scheduled to begin in the summer of 2021. With their children getting older and the prospect of more frequent, short-term visits in the USA, they are asking the Lord for clear direction and provision of housing, whether to rent or make more permanent arrangements.